According to Surya Oruganti, who detailed his ordeal on his Twitter, the drunk guy who showed up to pick him at the airport wasn’t the driver listed in his Uber app. Still, he made the mistake to get into the car with him.
He stayed in the car even after he realized that the driver was drunk. At that point, they had already left the airport and he probably couldn’t afford to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere.
Then, the driver passed out. Oruganti had no other choice but to push him over to the passenger seat and get himself behind the wheel. He says on Twitter he took himself home and then proceeded to file a complaint with Uber India.
Their response was mind-boggling, to say the least. Instead of an apology, they warned him they shouldn’t have driven himself home for some unspecified “safety issue” and informed him the drunk driver would be let go if this is a recurrent incident. Apparently, Oruganti should have canceled the ride when his driver passed out and report it to the authorities.
The man made sure to back up his story with photos and actual footage of the drunk driver before passing out. He’s also tweeting about his exchange with Uber India and voicing his displeasure at the way the incident is being handled.
Here's a video of the driver who was drunk enough to not know he was being recorded. He was not the driver claimed by the app either. pic.twitter.com/IPnwBkTZ7R
— Surya Oruganti (@suryaoruganti) September 9, 2018
Uber safety team promptly called back about 20 hours later. They said I shouldn't drive a cab because that's a safety issue. And that they'll educate the driver whatever that means and might terminate the driver if there's recurrence.#sorrynotsorry @UberINSupport @Uber_India
— Surya Oruganti (@suryaoruganti) September 15, 2018